Fu Zhuan "Hei Cha"

chrl42 wrote:All those strolling in Maliandao..today I realized shaanxi produced fuzhuan, too(usually comes from Hunan)

I suspect they were once at the rim of bankruptcy and probably was saved by the resurrection of hei cha culture, which was largely funded by Hunan government and companies.

In past, Shaanxi was place with many heicha business and tea factories, but all material came from Hunan. Now this new tea factory used old technique but use material from Shaanxi prov. Hope they will make tea well and not go down with quality like some Hunan TF's. Some products from 2011 and 2012 really go down with quality

EDIT: The seller is based right across the border in Shenzhen. He is originally from Hunan and was amazed I knew about Fu Zhuan. He speaks English and was very helpful. He's throwing in a few samples--hopefully I like FZ, because otherwise I'm going to be stuck with an 800g brick.

Last edited by jayinhk on Nov 18th, '12, 22:54, edited 1 time in total.

Thanks Ethan! The brick cost more like $7 with the discount, and the 10g sample of very expensive 1902 was around $5 I believe. Shipping was an additional ~$5. It should be here tomorrow!

The seller is based in Hunan (not Shenzhen, oops) and recommended another type of tea that Hunan is famous for that I can't remember now which doesn't have golden flowers. Hoping he sends me a sample of it!

My brick arrived today--very nice! It's like a young sheng with less bitterness and astringency (but still a fair amount of astringency). It even tastes kind of like a cleaner, sweeter sheng. I am definitely looking forward to watching it change in the HK atmosphere!

Tried the 1902 sample and it was excellent. Bursting with golden flowers and it had great flavor and sweetness.

I also tried a fu zhuan sample from 2010 that was considerably more flavorful than the 2012 brick I purchased. I like it a lot and may have to ask the seller for more of it if it isn't too pricey.

It's been very humid here in HK this week and the 2005 CNNP 7542 I broke up appears to be 'softening' nicely, in that the sharp aromas are receding for something milder and more pleasant. Hopefully the high humidity here will benefit the fu zhuan too. The new brick has no flowers to speak of. It looks like these China Tea licensed fu zhuan products are much leafier than the traditional kind.

Two weeks in the Hong Kong humidity and the fu zhuan brick has fresh golden flowers and is much less 'crispy' than when it arrived: it breaks off like wet-stored pu erh now, and the taste is fruitier and sweeter than when it arrived. Hei cha and pu erh really do seem to come along very quickly here in HK. Incidentally, the outside humidity has been up in the 90-100% range for much of the last week!

I like both Shouzhu variants from Chawangshop a lot. ( Shouzhu is afaik the hand-made version of Fu Cha, meaning the top quality).

This one is very good, it reminds me of medium-roasted Oolongs, very pleasant: 2011 CNNP Hunan Shouzhu (they do offer samples)

This one is my favorite, even though its a bit less acessible: Its lighter fermented, more complex taste, more special character. Less than Oolong, even more than something totally unique. But since the taste and mouth-feel are more special, it might take some more getting used to: 2011 Shaanxi Shouzhu

For the sake of completness: this 2004 Liu An has flowers, too and sounds quite interesting. But I haven't tried it and it is not a Fu Zhuan, but Liu Bao, which is another category and tastes differently. The ones I've tried are much more earthy and similar to Shu-Pu Erh, yet a bit more on the floral side.

Another note: The February edition of Global Tea Hut magazine has quite a lot of info on the yellow flowers as well. Link: gth.org (see: "past issues")

I find it quite interesting that both of you consider Fu Zhuan such a strong tea, because I find them rather mild.As Mr.T put it in this very nice review of a 2007 CNNP Hunan Shouzhu Fuzhuan:

- it is not as intense as in old tree puerh, on the other hand, it is notably more active than most wulongs.

- Thats exactly how I'd describe it - a much lighter experience than Pu'Er, but still quite intense compared to the other tea varieties.

Also I suppose that Eurotium Cristatum (amongs all the other microbes) is whats giving it its destinctive taste, alongside with other ways of the special manufacturing technique, leaf material, region etc. For example, the two 2011 Fu Zhuan from ChaWang which I mentioned are quite different. I'd bet that E.Cristatum is present also if the Jin Hua ("Yellow Flowers" don't show - just in a smaller amount. Also, I think that its Called Fu Cha because the leaves are (were) harvested on "Fu Day" which is a very hot day - thus they're using midsummer material.